Interviews: Interview with Guitar Shredder AXEL RUDI PELL
Posted on Sunday, July 18 @ 12:26:30 EDT
Topic: Interviews
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Axel Rudi Pell
Crest of the Knave
by Tommy Hash
Axeman Axel Rudi Pell is one shredder who brings the melodic metal mantra to the forefront. After a multitude of records that feature an execution of AOR, symphonic rock, neo-classical edginess, arena rock, and both speed & progressive metal elements to the table, the guitarist still at the top of his game. His latest, The Crest prevails with full-blown metal tracks such as the intense "Too Late," the melodic mastery of "Prisoner of Love," & the darkened vibes of "Dark Waves of the Sea," alongside ballads "Glory Night," "Devil Zone," and "Noblesse Oblige" - fluid playing colliding with the high technical edge is in abundance. With each album standing out on it's own, The Crest will certainly make a mark as one of the many high points in Pell's career.
The guitarist speaks about his current musical endeavors, including upcoming live performances and a DVD - and just like Malmsteen, Vai, and Satriani, there is no stopping the music.
"I think this one is one of the strongest we have ever done as a band, you can hear it in the songwriting," begins Pell, "The other albums have had one or two filler songs, but with The Crest we didn't do any experiments on it. The last album Tales from the Crown had all types of new ideas that were thrown in to make that record what it was, but this one really goes back to a more solid Axel Rudi Pell style."
The Crest has it's moments where a storyline that began many records ago is continued throughout a few songs, but that's not the only thing that inspired the lyrics and music to the album, "I think one is the continuing of the story of 'five knights' traveling around the world," elaborates Pell, "I started this story several years ago with the Oceans of Night record; in the cover artwork you see the five guys traveling in a boat on the 'Ocean of Time' and throughout the record you have different themes, such as them stealing the crown back from the evil forces - so The Crest does continue the story, but it's not a true concept album because there are some songs that don't have anything in common with that story, for examples the song "Glory Night" is about the first time I met my wife, so the whole album isn't necessary tied together with a concept.
With the nimble fingered shredding all across the fretwork, his approach to actually playing a solo might sunrise you, but when listening the big hook-laden choruses and the execution of catchiness throughout each tune, it may not surprise you, "I think my focus is more as a songwriter, a guitar player, not as a guitar hero," hints Pell, "I like songs, I'm not basing the song around a guitar solo, what I do first is write the melody, which is the most important part of a song, of course the vocal lines and when I actually get to a solo, I try to write a solo that actually fits into the song."
Three DVD's have come forth from the guitarist, the latest being One Live Night, "We did a festival show last summer in Germany and there were a few thousand people there," says Pell, "the promoters of the festival said that they were filming and recording the whole festival, and they asked us if we would like to have our performance filmed and I said yes. Maybe they would want to use one of the songs for a DVD compilation for the festival, but afterwards, the director said he was going to send us a clip or two and we said sure. And he sent me two clips, I called our record company, SPV and told them how good the filming and recording was and asked if we could do a DVD using the footage of our whole performance - we didn't have to pay any extra camera operator or any other production costs because the festival was already filmed."
At this time no other projects besides his own are on the horizon, although some guest performances come up every now and then, "I'll be doing some all-star performances here in Germany, for example a DIO tribute show - the promoter asked me to do a few songs and I said of course ," concludes Pell, "We as a band are going to work on the second part of The Crest tour which will take part later on this year throughout Europe. We just finished the first leg which was fantastic, nearly every show was sold out, the crowds and the reaction were very good. We would have a meet and greet after the show and people would tell me how much fun they had at the show and how they loved The Crest, which was great."
Copyright and Publishing: 2010 Tommy Hash for Ytsejam.com
Please Visit:
Axel Rudi Pell Website
SPV Records at MySpace
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